Barretto, Ray

Barretto, Ray * April 29, 1929 – † February 17, 2006Barretto, RayRay Barretto Raymond Barretto Pagan, better known as Ray Barretto and as the »King of the Hard Hands,« was born in New York City to Puerto Rican parents who moved from Puerto Rico to the city in the 1920s. The family’s last name was Barreto but a mistake on their son’s birth certificate added a »t.« This seemingly trivial incident actually became in time a key to Barretto’s musical identity. He was rooted in the Caribbean and yet…